A Graphical Overview of the 2012 Republican Field

[jaxx]

February 4, 2011, 11:07 am
A Graphical Overview of the 2012 Republican Field
By NATE SILVER

There is almost exactly one year to go until the Iowa caucuses, which are tentatively scheduled to take place on Feb. 6, 2012. No mainstream Republican candidate has yet declared for the presidency, but that is sure to change soon, perhaps as soon as there is a lull in the news — something we have not had in weeks, because of the Tucson shootings and the Egyptian protests.

The Republican field may eventually grow to be fairly large, so it would be useful to examine the landscape through a technique I have used in the past: locating the positions of the potential candidates spatially.

One dimension is obvious: we can classify the candidates from left to right, from relatively more moderate to relatively more conservative. But another dimension that is often salient in the primaries, and perhaps especially so for Republicans next year, is what we might think of as the insider/outsider axis: whether the candidate is viewed as part of the Republican establishment, or as a critic of it.

Let me show you the chart, and then we can begin to work our way through it:



The rest at > http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com...ss&emc=rss

[nofurylike]

that is a very clear graph. thank you for posting it, Sass.
the article is great. the comments add even more.
it is important to know what we are up against.

disturbing too, of course.

[Hekate]

As always with Nate Silver, very interesting analysis. TY for posting it.

[Andy823]

I heard last week that Thune said he wouldn't be running in 2012. I think he can see that president Obama is going to win, so why waste time and money. I think he will come back in 2016 and make a run at being the candidate.

I can't wait to see a "big" turnout for the republican primaries, and listen to them debate each other. It should be fun!

[Joan Ruaiz]

Great post! Thank you for it!